On Christmas Day In The Evening

All the Fernald family go back to the old home for Christmas, now, every
year. Last Christmas was the third on which Oliver and Edson, Ralph and
Guy, Carolyn and Nan, were all at the familiar fireside, as they used
to be in the days before they were married. The wives and husbands and
children go too--when other family claims can be compromised with--and
no one of them, down to Carolyn's youngest baby, who was not a year old
last Christmas, has sustained a particle of harm from the snowy journey
to North Estabrook, tucked away though it is among the hills, where the
drifts are deep.

Taking them all together they are quite a company. And as Father and
Mother Fernald are getting rather well along in years, and such a
house-party means a good deal of preparation, last year their younger
daughter Nan, and her husband, Sam Burnett: and their youngest son, Guy,
and his wife of a year, Margaret: went up to North Estabrook two days
ahead of the rest, to help with the finishing labours. Sam Burnett and
Guy Fernald, being busy young men all the year round, thought it great
sport to get up into the country in the winter, and planned, for a
fortnight beforehand, to be able to manage this brief vacation. As for
Nan and Margaret--they are always the best of friends. As for Father and
Mother Fernald----